D00 1.d4 d5: Unusual lines (1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.Nc3 Bf5 4.Bf4 c6 5.e3 e6)

It is safe to say that this game did not go as planned and it started to go wrong for me in the opening and I could not recover properly anymore in the later parts of the game. This was played in the 2014 September Grand Seven Fourteen III tournament at Red Hot Pawn. Out of the 40 games I was able to gather 99 points and it was good enough for fourth place. The first horrible move of the game was played by me on move 8. I played 8...h5, because I was worried about my bishop getting trapped on g6. My move weakened the protection of the g6 square, so that when my opponent took on g6 with the knight, I was forced to take back with my f-pawn. After that I had a weak pawn both on g6 and e6.

Already after my 8th move I was in a losing position, but it was not the move that lost me the game, because my opponent blundered on move 16 and I was able to get back into the game. Reverb played 16.Bxf5, which not only gave up the bishop pair, but also fixed my pawn structure because I replied with 16...gxf5. At that moment it seemed much more likely that I could fight for a draw.

Reverb then simply played 17.e4 and while the move itself was not earth shattering and one that would guarantee victory, after that I ruined my chances with my two very bad moves 17...dxe4 and 18...g6. I should not have taken on on e4 because it opened up the center while my king was still there. My 18th move secured my loss because I was not able to get my king out of the center and Reverb brilliantly took advantage of that fact finishing the game in a few moves.

[Event "Grand Seven Fourteen"] [Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"] [Date "2014.09.11"] [Round "1"] [White "Reverb"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D00"] [WhiteElo "1598"] [BlackElo "1914"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "45"] [EventDate "2014.??.??"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 {Queen Pawn Game: Symmetrical Variation} 3. Nc3 (3. e3 e6 4. Bd3 c5 5. c3 {Queen Pawn Game: Colle System}) (3. g3 {Queen Pawn Game: Symmetrical Variation. Pseudo-Catalan}) (3. Bf4 c5 4. e3 Qb6 5. Nc3 {London System: Poisoned Pawn Variation}) 3... Bf5 4. Bf4 c6 5. e3 e6 {D00 1.d4 d5: Unusual lines} 6. Ne5 Nbd7 (6... Bd6 7. h3 Ne4 8. Bd3 Nxc3 9. bxc3 Bxd3 10. cxd3 O-O 11. O-O f6 12. Ng4 Qc7 13. Bxd6 Qxd6 14. Rb1 b6 15. e4 Nd7 16. f4 e5 17. Ne3 exd4 18. Nf5 Qc7 19. cxd4 g6 20. Ne3 Rae8 21. Qc2 {Nabaty,T (2622) -Grekh,A (2347) Pardubice 2016 1-0 (41)}) 7. g4 Bg6 8. h4 h5 $4 $146 {Black lets it slip away} (8... h6 9. Nxg6 fxg6 10. Bd3 Kf7 11. Qf3 c5 12. g5 hxg5 13. hxg5 Rxh1+ 14. Qxh1 Nh5 15. Nxd5 Nxf4 16. Nxf4 Qa5+ 17. Ke2 cxd4 18. Qe4 Qe5 19. Qxg6+ Ke7 20. Qh5 Kd6 21. Bc4 dxe3 22. fxe3 Kc7 23. Nxe6+ {Tchoubar,V (2238)-Anatskiy,A Kiev 2008 1-0}) (8... Bb4 9. Nxd7 Kxd7 10. h5 Ne4 11. hxg6 Nxc3 12. Qd2 Qa5 13. a3 hxg6 14. Rxh8 Rxh8 15. Rc1 Bxa3 16. Ra1 Qb6 17. bxc3 Qb2 18. Rd1 Rh1 19. Ke2 Be7 20. Kf3 a5 21. c4 Bb4 22. Qc1 Qxc1 23. Rxc1 { Knippel,M-Niermann,R Aachen 1988 1-0}) (8... Qb6 9. Rb1 Nxe5 10. dxe5 Nxg4 11. Qxg4 Bxc2 12. Qe2 Bxb1 13. Nxb1 Bb4+ 14. Kd1 O-O-O 15. Qd3 d4 16. e4 Be7 17. b3 Qa5 18. a4 Bb4 19. Rg1 Rhg8 20. Be2 Qc5 21. Bh5 Qe7 22. Bg5 f6 23. Bf4 { Magnusson,R (2000)-Stojkovska, M (2040) Paracin 2014 0-1 (37)}) (8... Qb6 $142 {was necessary} 9. Nxg6 hxg6 $11) 9. Nxg6 $18 fxg6 10. g5 Ng8 11. Bh3 Qe7 ( 11... Bb4 12. Bxe6 Nf8 13. Bh3 $18) 12. Qd3 (12. Bg3 {and White can already relax} Qf7 13. e4 Ne7 $18) 12... Qf7 13. O-O-O Ne7 14. Rhf1 (14. Rhe1 {keeps an even firmer grip} Nf5 15. e4 dxe4 16. Qxe4 Be7 17. Qxe6 Qxe6 18. Rxe6 Kf7 $18) 14... Nf5 15. f3 Be7 16. Bxf5 $4 {weakening the position} (16. e4 $142 { the advantage is on the side of White} Nxh4 17. Ne2 $18) 16... gxf5 $14 17. e4 (17. Ne2 $14) 17... dxe4 $2 (17... Nf8 $142 $5 $14 {must be considered}) 18. fxe4 $16 g6 $2 (18... O-O 19. Kb1 $16) 19. exf5 (19. d5 $5 {makes it even easier for White} exd5 20. exf5 gxf5 $18) 19... exf5 20. d5 cxd5 $4 {the pressure is too much, Black crumbles} (20... O-O $142 21. dxc6 Nc5 $18) 21. Nxd5 Rd8 (21... O-O {desperation} 22. Nxe7+ Qxe7 $18) 22. Nxe7 Qxe7 23. Rfe1 ( 23. Rfe1 Ne5 24. Qb5+ Kf7 25. Bxe5 Rhe8 26. Rxd8 Rxd8 27. Qb3+ Qe6 28. Qxe6+ Kxe6 29. Bf6+ Kd5 30. Bxd8 f4 31. Bc7 f3 32. Re5+ Kc6 33. Re6+ Kxc7 34. Rxg6 f2 35. Rf6 b5 36. g6 b4 37. g7 b3 38. g8=Q f1=R+ 39. Rxf1 bxa2 40. Qg7+ Kd6 41. Rf6+ Kc5 42. Qg5+ Kd4 43. Rf4+ Ke3 44. Qe5#) (23. Bd6 Nf8 24. Rfe1 Rh7 25. Qb5+ Rd7 26. Qc5 Rg7 27. Bxe7 Rgxe7 28. Rxe7+ Rxe7 29. Qc8+ Kf7 30. Rd8 Ne6 31. Rh8 Nd8 32. Rxd8 Re1+ 33. Kd2 Re4 34. Qxb7+ Re7 35. Qd5+ Re6 36. Rd7+ Kg8 37. Qxe6+ Kh8 38. Qe8#) 1-0

Only one game was found when I looked the position after 5...e6 and where both player were rated over 2500. While this was a blitz game, it may still be a much higher quality game than what I played. Interestingly both games were played in 2014, but my game finished on March 27th, 2015.

[Event "Wch Blitz"] [Site "Dubai"] [Date "2014.06.19"] [Round "6"] [White "Radjabov, Teimour"] [Black "Anton Guijarro, David"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A45"] [WhiteElo "2724"] [BlackElo "2631"] [PlyCount "87"] [EventDate "2014.06.19"] [EventType "swiss (blitz)"] [EventRounds "21"] [EventCountry "UAE"] [SourceTitle "Mega2014 Update 26"] [Source "Chessbase"] [SourceDate "2014.06.26"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nc3 d5 3. Bf4 c6 4. e3 Bf5 5. Nf3 e6 6. Be2 h6 7. O-O Nbd7 8. Bd3 Bxd3 9. Qxd3 Bb4 10. a3 Bxc3 11. Qxc3 Ne4 12. Qd3 g5 13. Bg3 h5 14. Nd2 Nxd2 15. Qxd2 h4 16. Be5 f6 17. Bd6 Kf7 18. a4 Nb6 19. Bb4 Nc4 20. Qc1 a5 21. Ba3 Nd6 22. Bxd6 Qxd6 23. Qd2 e5 24. Rad1 e4 25. f3 Qe6 26. f4 g4 27. b3 g3 28. h3 Qf5 29. c4 Rhd8 30. Qe2 Kg6 31. Rc1 Qh5 32. f5+ Kh6 33. Qb2 Rd7 34. Rf4 Rg8 35. Rcf1 c5 36. cxd5 Rxd5 37. dxc5 Rf8 38. Rxe4 Rd1 39. Ref4 Rxf1+ 40. Rxf1 Kg7 41. Qd4 Rf7 42. Rf4 Re7 43. Rg4+ Kf7 44. Qd5+ 1-0